For my money, the best part of the World Baseball Classic isn’t the latter half of the tournament, when the pitches are groomed to world-class levels and the level of play is impeccable. Sure, there’s good baseball and dramatic drama, and it’s where the bragging rights are truly distributed as the sporting superpowers of Japan, DR, and the United States face off against each other. No, pool play is the most fun. Think of it like the opening weekend of March Madness, where the draws aren’t necessarily great, but they’re a joy. You’ll learn about the quirks and traditions of some of the more obscure teams. Mobile fans who make neutral sites feel like home games; In an indirect but unmistakable sense, players feel proud to wear their colors.
With so much baseball going on at the same time, it all washes you down with an enjoyable cultural stew. The Emperor of Japan has attended an international baseball game for the first time in nearly 60 years. There are Italians drinking espresso in the dugout. Luis Arraez has inexplicably transformed into Barry Bonds, but once again only in the WBC. Basically, there’s something cool and weird happening at any given moment. Like baseball itself, it’s best consumed in large quantities.
And yet, in the previous five editions of the classic, not a single thing that was out of the ordinary happened. It was a walk-off home run, baseball’s purest joy. On Saturday we got two things. If you’re still a little cynical about this tournament or feel like it’s not being taken as seriously as it could be, this is something you’ll want to distill and bottle.
In Miami, with the crowd giving the crowd an uncharacteristically raucous commotion, the Dutch team was again struggling against Nicaragua, one of the minnows of the tournament who had never won a WBC match before. Diamondbacks prospect Jaitoine Kelly, who at age 18 was the youngest starting pitcher in WBC history, traded solid innings with veteran free agent Erasmo Ramirez. Jeter Downs broke the tie with a home run in the eighth to put Nicaragua up 3-1, and when the Netherlands got their first two outs in the ninth, they mixed hair miracle.
After Ceddanne Rafaela singled, Xander Bogaerts hit what appeared to be a game-ending grounder to third base. However, the ball hit the third baseman and bounced into left field for a double, and Ozzie Elvis gave up the winning run against Angel Obando. Albee, who later revealed that he expected an intentional walk, said, “I told him that if he throws the best fastball, I should swing as best as I can.” Obanda threw the first pitch fastball.
It was heartbreaking for Nicaragua, which boasts only a small number of players among MLB teams. But again, comparing it to March Madness, sometimes the best games are upsets that don’t actually happen.
Incredibly, it happened again just hours after the first finalist in the tournament’s history. Puerto Rico needed some small ball to tie the game against upstart Panama in the ninth (walk, single, walk, walk), then a GIDP fielder picked in the 10th. That cleared the bases and set the stage for A’s prospect Darell Hernaiz.
“I’m not the one to take it out of the park,” said Hernaiz, who drove the San Juan crowd into a state of delirium by taking it out of the park.
“I lost my mind,” Hernaiz admitted. “I don’t remember anything.”
I think Kathryn nailed it earlier this week when she wrote that it’s important for people to care about this tournament, not because it’s important, but quite the opposite: it’s important for people to care. Watch the celebration and listen to the crowd. It is said that early returns have begun.
